Making it in New York: A DDPB Dynasty

[Cap Ologist]

Pure cap hell. There really is no other way to describe the situation I inherited as the new general manager of the New York Knicks. A talentless roster being paid like superstars. A lame duck coach in the last year of his contract but owed $5 million.

I fire the assistants and hire Larry Smith, John Kuester and Mike Sanders. I'm still on the fence with what what to do with Isiah Thomas. I start preparations for the draft. We have the 2nd overall pick in a 2 player draft highlighted by C Greg Oden and SF Kevin Durant. Most experts think Toronto will pick Oden, if that's the case, Durant will be a great player for us.

As expected, Toronto gets Oden and I select Durant, setting up a great rivalry for years to come in our division and conference. I take a flyer on Jared Jordan with our pick in the 2nd round. I'll hold off on signing him until last days of free agency, there are a few trades I'm hoping to work out at the beginning of free agency, and he could be a chip that tips a trade in our favor.

I send SF Renaldo Blackmon and SG Jamal Crawford to Washington for SF Caron Butler and their 2008 and 2009 2nd round picks. I then ship PG Stephon Marbury and SG Mardy Collins and our 2008 1st round pick for SG Mike Miller, PG Damon Stoudamire, their 2008 and 2010 1st round picks and their 2008 2nd round pick.

I discuss a trade with Charlotte, but they're hesitant to pull the trigger until they resign SF Gerald Wallace. The moment the news hits that he has resigned, I grab the phone and hammer out the final details. I send C Channing Frye, PF David Lee, PG Nate Robinson, C Randolph Morris and PG Jared Jordan for PF Sean May and PG Raymond Felton.

Charlotte has lots of cap space, so I ask if they'd be interested in PG Steve Francis. I take back the expiring contracts of C Primoz Brezec and C Ryan Hollins. I throw in a 2nd round pick and just like that we've gone from a cap hell and no talent to $400k away from being under the luxury tax. As soon as possible, we'll ship Brezec and Hollins out for garbage to get under the threshold. I offer two year min-sal deals to C Darko Milicic and SF Eric Hicks, will probably stick Hicks in the d-leagues and see if he'll develop into a role player.

We sit tight the rest of free agency, feeling confident we're on our way to respectability much sooner than anyone anticipated. In fact, my spirits are so high that I fire Isiah Thomas and hire Rudy Tomjanovich to be my new head coach.

Next year, we should be able to unload Malik Rose and his $7 million expiring contract and Damon Stoudamire and his $4 million expiring contract. We'll be stuck with Jerome James until the following season, and Jared Jeffries the season after that. It's a manageable situation going forward. C Eddy Curry is talented but I don't think he's work what we're paying him, just under $9 million this season and another 3 years and $30 million. I doubt he'll be on our roster after the trade deadline, but who knows.

I send Hicks and Hollins to our d-league affiliate. Our opening day lineup is:
PG Raymond Felton
SG Caron Butler
SF Kevin Durant
PF Sean May
C Eddy Curry
6th SG/SF Mike Miller
7th PG/SG Damon Stoudamire
8th PF/C Darko Milicic
9th SG/SF Quentin Richardson
10th SF/PF Jared Jeffries
11th PF/C Primoz Brezec
12th SF/PF/C Malik Rose

Inactive:
C Jerome James

DLeague
PF/C Ryan Hollins
SF/PF Eric Hicks

[Cap Ologist]

November

Game 1: @ Minnesota 103-71 W
Game 2: Boston 98-92 L
Game 3: Philadelphia 116-93 L
Game 4: Clippers 105-103 W
Game 5: @ Indiana 114-85 L
Game 6: @ San Antonio 127-97 L
Game 7: @ Houston 102-94 W
Game 8: @ Dallas 112-106
Game 9: Cleveland 109-91 L
Game 10: Atlanta 96-89 W
Game 11: @ Toronto 107-100 W
Game 12: Toronto 105-88 W
Game 13: @ Atlanta 103-97 L
Game 14: Memphis 105-90 W

I'm pleased to be at .500 after our first month. I can finally trade Brezec and ship him to Philly for their 2008 2nd round pick. I'm now below the luxury tax threshold, so I should be ok with Mr. Rolen, my owner. He was adamant about not having to pay the tax this season.

Scoring:
Eddy Curry 17.7 ppg
Caron Butler 16.1 ppg
Kevin Durant 14.6 ppg
Mike Miller 13.3 ppg
Raymond Felton 11.6 ppg
Damon Stoudamire 8.6 ppg

Rebounding:
Eddy Curry 9.4
Sean May 6.6
Kevin Durant 6.0
Darko Milicic 5.1

Assists:
Raymond Felton 7.3
Damon Stoudamire 5.8

We have the 10th rated offense at 98.9 ppg but are the 24th rated defense at 101.0 ppg. We are the 12th best rebounding team at 41.9 rpgs and rank 13th allowing our opponents 40.7 rpg. Kobe Bryant leads the league with an amazing 39.8 ppg.

December

Game 15: Orlando 103-91 W
Game 16: @ Charlotte 106-97 L
Game 17: @ Memphis 109-97 L
Game 18: @ New Orleans 110-81 L
Game 19: @ Washington 114-109 L
Game 20: Denver 114-101 L
Game 21: @ New Jersey 124-116 L
Game 22: Detroit 95-91 W
Game 23: @ Philadelphia 100-97 L
Game 24: Utah 86-83 L
Game 25: Dallas 118-109 W
Game 26: @ Boston 127-99 L
Game 27: Charlotte 104-99 W
Game 28: @ Orlando 93-84 L
Game 29: Minnesota 111-91
Game 30: New Jersey 108-96 L

December was very disappointing. I watch our team stumble to an 5-11 mark in the month.

Scoring:
Caron Butler 18.3 ppg
Eddy Cury 17.2 ppg
Mike Miller 14.0 ppg
Kevin Durant 13.5 ppg
Raymond Felton 10.7 ppg
Sean May 8.2 ppg
Damon Stoudamire 7.9 ppg

Rebounding:
Eddy Curry 9.7
Sean May 6.6
Darko Milicic 5.9
Kevin Durant 5.6

Assists:
Raymond Felton 7.0
Damon Stoudamire 6.1

We're ranked 10th offensively with an average of 99.2 ppg, and slide to 26th defensively allowing 102.9 ppg. We grab 42.4 boards a game to rank 10th and allow our opponents to grab 41.5 boards a game to rank 15th.

[Cap Ologist]

January

Game 31: Sacramento 105-99 W
Game 32: @ Miami 122-94 L
Game 33: @ Cleveland 108-96 W
Game 34: Portland 106-94 W
Game 35: New Orleans 113-106 W
Game 36: @ Chicago 95-81 L
Game 37: Chicago 106-102 L
Game 38: @ Toronto 105-99 L
Game 39: Houston 111-106 W
Game 40: Milwaukee 106-99 W
Game 41: Phoenix 133-95 L
Game 42: Cleveland 118-108 W
Game 43: @ Detroit 124-88 L
Game 44: @ Clippers 99-90 L
Game 45: @ Denver 117-72 L

Another disappointing month, at least we were only one game below .500 for the month at 7-8. I need to shake things up, we still have a chance to make the playoffs. I send SF Caron Butler, PG Damon Stoudamire and C Ryan Hollins to Chicago for PG Kirk Hinrich and their 2008, 2009 and 2010 2nd round draft picks. I really didn't want to trade Butler but I think we need an upgrade at point guard. It came down to Butler having an extra year on his contract that Miller didn't have, so he got moved out. Chicago was also interested in Curry for Hinrich, but I didn't want to trade my only real post presence. Now, we sit very comfortably at just only $10 million above the salary cap.

So after the trade, our lineup looks like:

PG Kirk Hinrich
SG Mike Miller
SF Kevin Durant
PF Sean May
C Eddy Curry
6th PG/SG Raymond Felton
7th PF/C Darko Milicic
8th SG/SF Eric Hicks (recalled from D-Leagues)
9th SG/SF Quentin Richardson
10th SF/PF Jared Jeffries
11th SF/PF/C Malik Rose
12th C Jerome James

February

Game 46: @ Sacramento 113-104 W
Game 47: @ Phoenix 122-112 L
Game 48: @ Utah 104-93 L
Game 49: Miami 121-105 W
Game 50: @ Boston 105-91 L
Game 51: Charlotte 97-83 W
Game 52: @ Philadelphia 121-110 W
Game 53: Milwaukee 113-90 W
Game 54: @ Detroit 111-102 W
Game 55: Philadelphia 102-94 L
Game 56: Indiana 123-108 W
Game 57: Lakers 82-61 W

We go 8-4 this month to bring us back to 3 games below .500.

Scoring:
Eddy Curry 16.7
Kirk Hinrich 15.1
Mike Miller 14.6
Kevin Durant 12.9
Raymond Felton 10.3
Sean May 9.2
Eric Hicks 8.2

Rebounding:
Eddy Curry 9.5
Sean May 6.2
Darko Milicic 5.5
Kevin Durant 5.1

Assists:
Kirk Hinrich 9.5
Raymond Felton 6.0

We're now ranked 7th in the league scoring 100.6 points a game, but have slid to 29th allowing 103.4 points a game. We fall to 19th in rebounding with 41.3 while allowing our opponents to grab 41.6.

March
Game 58: @ Orlando 106-82 W
Game 59: Oakland 98-94 W
Game 60: Washington 102-89 W
Game 61: Seattle 95-86 L
Game 62: Miami 114-107 W
Game 63: @ Atlanta 98-97 W
Game 64: @ Miami 117-105 W
Game 65: San Antonio 118-109 W
Game 66: Boston 115-108 W
Game 67: @ Seattle 90-97 L
Game 68: @ Portland 93-86 W
Game 69: @ Oakland 113-102 W
Game 70: @ Lakers 106-96 L
Game 71: New Jersey 114-90 W

We end March sitting at 38-33, third in the Atlantic Division. If the playoffs started today, we'd be the 6th seed. With 13 games to go, we're in good shape. I don't know if we can gain a higher seed, we're 3.5 games behind Toronto for the 5th seed.

Scoring:
Eddy Curry 17.4
Kirk Hinrich 15.4
Mike Miller 14.9
Kevin Durant 13.5
Raymond Felton 10.2
Sean May 9.1
Eric Hicks 7.0

Rebounding:
Eddy Curry 9.4
Sean May 6.2
Darko Milicic 5.5
Kevin Durant 5.4

Assists:
Kirk Hinrich 9.2
Raymond Felton 5.7

We have the 5th ranked offense at 101.3 points while still struggling on defense at 28th with 102.2. We are 15th with 41.7 rebounds and allow 41.4 our opponents to grab 41.4.

April
Game 72: @ Milwaukee 126-105 L
Game 73: Indiana 115-90 W
Game 74: @ New Jersey 99-76 W
Game 75: Chicago 127-120 W
Game 76: @ Indiana 96-83 W
Game 77: Toronto 100-98 W
Game 78: @ Cleveland 121-119 W
Game 79: @ Charlotte 115-95 W
Game 80: Atlanta 101-94 W
Game 81: @ Chicago 87-85 W
Game 82: Washington 109-94 W

We close the season with a 10 game winning streak to help us improve our seed from 6th to 4th and will have homecourt advantage for the first series. Durant goes 3-1 against Oden in their first season in the league.

Scoring:
Eddy Curry 17.6
Mike Miller 15.9
Kirk Hinrich 15.3
Kevin Durant 14.1
Raymond Felton 10.0
Sean May 9.1

Rebounding:
Eddy Curry 9.5
Sean May 6.4
Kevin Durant 5.4
Darko Milicic 5.4

Assists:
Kirk Hinrich 9.2
Raymond Felton 5.5

Game 1:
Kevin Durant scores 30 in his first playoff game and Mike Miller scores 32, Kirk Hinrich scores 13 points and collects 25 assists. Ben Gordon scores 34, Tyrus Thomas scores 25 and gets 12 rebounds while Ben Wallace goes for 16 points and 17 rebounds. Chicago steals homecourt advantage with a 130-124 win.

Game 2:
Mike Miller scores 26 to lead us and Eddy Curry scores 19. Luol Deng scores 18 and Andres Nocioni scores 17 to lead a balanced Chicago effort. They take a 2-0 lead with a narrow 98-96 victory.

Game 3:
We go on the road to the Windy City. Luol Deng scores 26, Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni each score 25. Kevin Durant leads us with 15 and Raymond Felton scores 13 off the bench as we get blown out 106-84.

Game 4:
Win or go home. The commercial keeps running through my mind all day. Luol Deng scores 27 and the other 4 starting Bulls score double digits. Kevin Durant scores 18, Eddy Curry gets 13, Raymond Felton scores 11 and Quentin Richardson scores 10. We get blown out again 105-74.

Our season ends in a disappointing manner. But We went 28-8 after our trade to acquire Kirk Hinrich. So things are looking bright for the future.

San Antonio wins the title, beating Boston 4-2 in the finals.

[Cap Ologist]

Kevin Durant was voted All Rookie 1st Team and he was our lone award winner. The end of the season conversation with Mr. Rolen went well. He was pleased that we'd defied the long odds in not only improving the financial situation of the team but also with the talent we acquired.

We start off the season $15 million over the cap, an amount that Mr. Rolen is comfortable with. There will be a few moves we make, we'll look to dump Malik Rose's expiring contract which will free up $7 million. Felton and May are in the last years of their deals and neither figures into my longterm plans, so I'll look to package them as well.

I'd forgotten that we'd switched picks with Memphis and end up with the top overall pick. It's another week draft, we pick the consensus top player, PF Leighton King. With our 2nd round picks we select PG John Johnson, SF Kimani Dixon and C Bill Thomas. We'll ship them out in trades during free agency.

I had been hoping there would be a team with sufficient cap space to dump Malik Rose on but no dice. We'll definitely have to take back some salary on a player, hopefully we can make it as painless as possible. I'd like to unload Felton, May and Rose so we'll how it plays out.

[Cap Ologist]

There are no blockbuster deals out there for us via trades. So, we settle for a few minor trades. I send PG Raymond Felton, PF Malik Rose and SF Kimani Dixon to Orlando for SF Hedo Turkoglu and their 09, 10 and 11 2nd round draft picks. We dump about $5 million off our payroll for this season, but we do have to take Turkoglu for this season and next. Right now, Tomjanovich has him slated as our starting PF, but I'm hoping rookie PF Leighton King will show enough in training camp to unseat him.

I find three more bargain basement guys in PG Shaun Livingston, PF James Augustine and C Peter John Ramos. I sign them all to two year deals and we've got a full roster to head into training camp. We still have Quentin Richardson, Jared Jeffries and Jerome James with their bad contracts on the team, with some luck we'll be able to unload James and Richardson next offseason.

[bbgunn]

Nice start there!